Apple is expected to sell 65 million iPads this year as it prepares to launch
its latest model.

Analysts Canaccord Genuity had predicted sales of almost 60 million iPads this year but said record pre-orders of the new Apple tablet had led to a revised estimate of 65 million. Since the first iPad went on sale, a little over two years ago, Apple has sold around 55 million of the tablet computers.

Apple confirmed today that its stores in Britain will open at 8am on Friday to sell the new iPad, which was announced last week in San Francisco by Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive.

Analysts T Michael Walkley and Matthew Ramsay, of Canaccord Genuity, told Reuters: "With our checks indicating record pre-orders and 2-3 week wait times for new iPads, we anticipate a record launch this weekend."

The analysts said Apple's rivals would probably struggle to launch rival products over the next couple of quarters. They said: "While Samsung appears to have the most compeititive Android tablet offering, we view Windows 8 as a greater longer-term threat to Apple's dominant iPad share than Android tablets."

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This Friday will be the first time that Apple has launched a new iPad in Britain on the same day as it goes on sale in the US. The company has restricted orders to two iPads per person but is still expecting shortages. The delays for online pre-orders are likely to increase queues outside Apple stores on Friday.

The iPad 2, which will remain on sale but at a lower price than the new iPad, also sold out quickly when it was launched last year. Within days of launch, expected delivery times for online orders had grown to up to five weeks.

Last week, eBay said that more than 16,000 iPads had been listed for sale in the two weeks preceding the Apple announcement, suggesting that many users were preparing to upgrade.